Lufthansa admitted Wednesday that the positions of up to 26,000 employees are surplus to requirements, suggesting many more jobs will be cut at the German carrier than a figure of more than 10,000 flagged a few weeks ago. Speaking after a meeting with trade unions, a Lufthansa spokeswoman said the airline estimates that it has a surplus of 22,000 full-time equivalent positions or 26,000 employees. Lufthansa last week pledged a wide-ranging restructuring, from thousands of job cuts to asset sales, as it seeks to repay a E9b state bailout and navigate deepening losses in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. It said then that job cuts would be “significantly more” than the 10,000 figure it had previously estimated. The company is trying to reach agreement with labour unions to make employees work part-time and other ways to cut personnel costs before it holds an extraordinary general meeting on June 25, when shareholders will vote on the bailout.<br/>
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The EC said Wednesday it had approved Portugal's plan for a rescue loan for Transportes Aereos Portugueses (TAP) and a partial state recapitalisation of Finnair after both airlines were hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Rescue aid can be granted for a maximum of six months and in Portugal's case, the authorities have committed that TAP will reimburse the E1.2b loan or submit a restructuring plan in that time. "This 1.2 billion euros Portuguese rescue aid will help TAP Air Portugal face its liquidity needs and pave the way for its restructuring to ensure its long-term viability," Commission executive vice president Margrethe Vestager said.<br/>
United is requiring its passengers to complete a self-assessment health screening before flying, one of the furthest reaching efforts among carriers to keep the Covid-19 outbreak in check as travel resumes. Customers will have to confirm they haven’t experienced coronavirus symptoms two weeks before flying and complete a checklist based on recommendations from the Cleveland Clinic, United said Wednesday. The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on the airline industry by decimating travel demand since mid-March, with traffic through US airports on Tuesday down more than 85% from a year earlier, according to government data. Now, as states and localities reopen for business, carriers are developing procedures to ensure that flying is safe. United’s passengers will only receive boarding passes after acknowledging that they had reviewed the checklist. <br/>
Singapore Airlines and SilkAir passengers flying from selected cities in Australia and New Zealand are now allowed to transit through Changi Airport. SIA announced on its website that such transit flights are only for outbound journeys and will take effect from Thursday. "Passengers will not be able to transit from other points in the SIA Group network through Singapore into these cities," said the national carrier. The cities in Australia include Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth (via Scoot) and Sydney, while the New Zealand cities are Auckland and Christchurch. Transfers are also only allowed on flights between airlines within the SIA Group - SIA, SilkAir and Scoot. Currently, transfers to and from flights operated by other airlines are not allowed. In its announcement, SIA said that transit and non-transit passengers will be kept apart at Changi Airport.<br/>
Hyundai Development Company's plan to take over Asiana Airlines is going back to square one, as it intensifies a war of nerves against main creditors of the sagging airline in an apparent move to cut down the initial acquisition cost. On Wednesday, Korea Development Bank (KDB), the main creditor of Asiana, urged HDC to return to the negotiating table to discuss details over the deal, rather than simply sending statements over its position. "Interested parties should conduct a full consultation to meet HDC's demands, but the company is seeking negotiations only via exchanging statements, which raises doubts over the sincerity of its acquisition plan," the state-run lender said. This came as a reaction to HDC's earlier statement, released Tuesday, that it will reconsider completing the deal, as a series of "negative factors" getting in the way of the deal-closing were "clearly detected" for the past few months.<br/>
Air New Zealand will resume passenger flights to Japan later this month but passengers will be subject to government border controls. The airline's general manager networks Scott Carr says the airline will operate one return service per week on its Auckland-Narita route with the first flight departing Auckland on June 25. The airline's Auckland-Narita route hasn't been operating since March 30. "We're pleased to be able to welcome customers back onboard as we restart services to Narita this month. However, we know the rebuilding of our international network is going to take considerable time," Carr said. Pre-Covid-19, Air NZ operated up to 10 services per week on the Auckland-Narita route. Customers travelling on these services will now be subject to government border controls. At present, New Zealand citizens and residents are allowed into this country but are subject to a 14-day quarantine.<br/>